basically i have some pretty gnarly exhaust leaks before my o2 sensor, bad enough at least to make me run rich and get gross polluter cubed on a tailpipe(no codes thrown though). I can hear the clicking from the passenger manifold, but i havent done a thorough check yet. I'm looking for a temporary fix that will get me through a smog check, because i'm putting a 3.4 and headers in in a few months. I need the car reg'd for dd though, so i have to get it past smog in the meantime.

I highly doubt the existence of such a cure, but is there any way i could jerry-rig my way around this leak?

 

maybe try some muffler tape and putty

 

Where is the leak? Is it at the manifold? It's fairly easy to get to all of our exhaust system on our cars. If it's the gasket, just replace it, if it's the donut, replace that, if it's the pipe then you'll have to get a new pipe installed.

Who told you that the emissions were caused by the leaks, the test-only guy? From my experience, MOST of them don't diagnose anything correctly anyway, second, he doesn't know for sure, he's guessing. Without actually doing a diag on it, all we can do is make educated guesses.

With just a clicking noise, it doesn't sound like a big enough leak to cause a CO failure. What is your O2 reading on the Emissions Report? If it's below 0.5% it's not the leaks that are making you rich. You can send me a PM with you readouts if you want and i can make my best guess. I've been doing this for a long time and have seen a lot of things, but still, it's just a guess.

If you are set on a quick fix, the I would suggest the putty, but you'll never get them off the block if you are sealing the manifold once it dries. Are you getting the pacesetter headers? If not, good luck passing in the furture, no one else is legal for our cars in CA.

 

2point8boy knows his stuff.
He recently passed my ride, the correct way.
Like I said go to a muffler shop & have them tell ya what ails the car.
It'll be either free or $30-ish bucks for fix or knowledge.
Putty works for short time. I know I did that before I replaced a cracked manifold. Short as in days. But it'll get ya past smog....IF that is your problem.
The manifold cost me $10 at pick your part & was on an engine on the ground. I bought both sides.
10mm bolts & box end wrench is all ya need. I installed new doughnuts & manifold gaskets. 15mm bolts down there at the doughnut.
Cured my leak.
This happens because some mechainic lifted car wrong point.
Go to a muffler shop for their correct answer. Ask to be shown the problem.

 

bolts holdiing manifolds to the heads are 10X1.25 i had to get new ones for mine, also the headers that were made by pacesetter I THINK may be emissions legal for you. if you need a new set of manifolds, i got a set, no charge, just pay for shipping. they should be cleaned just to get all the carbon deposits off, but they are straight and no cracks, i did however have to drill one of the 15mm bolts out and i didn't get it perfectly straight, but i went to standard size threads on that one. i haven't had a problem with that side since i did it 2 years ago. now the other side, that is the side i was having problems with but that was cause the 2 rear manifold studs were broke before i got the car. i tested the manifolds on a surface plate and some prussian blue to check them for flatness, and they were within about .0001"( a human hair normally measures about .007") the whole way across. i also have the factory Y pipe that i had welded in for the same deal. it is like 6 months old. no leaks! they run about 140 at advance auto and take 2 days to get in.
you need a lift to get them under the car and in to place. i tried using ramps, and couldn't do it. if you want them, they are yours, i just have to cut the Y pipe before the weld so i can get them loose of the rest of the exhaust!
p.s i just got a new set of headers i am in the process of putting on!

 

it could just be my cat, but i've seen cat-less v8's spit out a lot less hydrocarbon than my car. no code, so the o2 sensor should be good, right?

at idle there is a clicking sound from the pass. manifold, when i give it gas with the hood open you hear what sounds like air practically gushing out of whatever leak it is(sounds like steam shooting out of a cracked pipe). i cant find anything else that would be making that noise, but i could easily be wrong.

RPM . . . . . . . : 763

HC . . . . . . . . : 451
CO . . . . . . . . : 0.80
CO2 . . . . . . . : 13.9
O2 . . . . . . . . : 0.90

RPM . . . . . . . : 2377

HC . . . . . . . . : 827
CO . . . . . . . . : 4.50
CO2 . . . . . . . : 11.6
O2 . . . . . . . . : 0.50

and P.E.F(whatever that is) was 0.484 on both.

i can guarantee that my car has been jacked from the wrong point(not from me) at least once, there are some pretty telltale signs underneath(spot on the rear pass. floorboard where jack was placed, etc), so yeah.

the test guy just mumbled some random mumbo-jumbo about stuff even i knew was pointlessly wrong(dont remember what, i had it tested back in october, havent done anything to the emissions related stuff since). what i told you was just me guessing, not him. i may just putty the whole thing from block to y-pipe, because all that is getting ditched soon enough.

im getting the pacesetter headers, which should be perfectly legal for me(89 auto, no AIR)

 

don't be so sure that you aint got air fittings, check on the driver's side manifold. see those stainless lines going into the manifold, you got a air pump, it sets down under the alternator.
i got one, and i am pretty sure that you got one too! try a set of headers like alan and i got, they are i believe emissions legal, and they have the egr and air fittings! it makes it easy, though they are a pain to put on! 3rd day now(second day trying to figure out how to get the studs out of the driver side head.

 

just because it isnt throwing a code doesnt mean the o2 sensor is ok. it would be a good place to start. its a PITA to replace but could help ur problem. make sure all bolts r present and accounted for, i believe the rear bolts can be notorious for coming out under certain circumstances.

 

You do have a large amount of oxygen in the exhaust stream, which could lead me to believe that you are getting it from an outside source (e.g air pump, cracked manifold...blah blah blah).

I would start by replacing the o2, it's cheap insurance. I don't think you have an air pump seeing as that you have an auto. I'll have to check, but I don't think they had them, only the 5-speeds.

Check to make sure all of the bolts are actually in the manifolds, they tend to break off and then you have lots of problems.

Looking at the 25 mph results though, you definitly have a fuel control problem. With 4.5% CO, that is one fat motor. The thing about our cars is that the computer is stupid. You can have an O2 that stops respnding, the car will fall out of closed loop because of it, and then it'll start working again, but you'll never see a code. If that was caused by an air leak at the manifold, you would see a lot higher O2 percentage. Something like 2 or 3%.

I would replace the O2 and then drive the car around for a few days, get it on the freeway to help burn the cat off. What happens is that when you run rich like that, it coats the inside of the cat with carbon, you might be able to get it nice and hot to burn the stuff off, so there's a chance that the cat might come back to life. I can tell you right now that it's not working at all though.

Did the place that you went to tell you how much a 3rd inspection is? Do you get a free one? If you get a free one, I would replace the o2 and drive it like I said. Take it back and see what you get out of it. If it passes, you're done, no more worries. If it doesn't come back, let me know what the results are, we'll go from there. Chances are, it will end up needing a cat too since it was rich for so long, but there is that chance that it'll come back from the dead.

*edit* Now that i get to thinking about it, I bet the cat is hollow. Looking at all the numbers and looking at the CO % in particular when combined with the amount of O2, you have a fuel problem that has taken out the cat.*edit*

Good Luck.
Jeff

 

2.8 AUTOs have NO SMOG PUMPS
The same years with sticks have smog pumps & AIR tubes.
My cat ran me $115 including shipping, Magnoflow
Oxy sensor was $20-ish at Pep Boys.
Toss those two things on (or atleast just oxy sensor) and see what happens.
Don't worry about pipe leaks.
Do all ya need to pass smog.
AND YES THAT MAY INCLUDE the CC being replaced.

 

yeah, I would bet a million $ that i do not have AIR, unless it is invisible and immaterial.

They were actually really cool about the smog test(i live up in the northern valley, all the smog we have is blown up from the bay area), and when they saw how horribly the tailpipe was going they stopped the test. so it never officially counted as a smog test and wasnt sent to the dmv(thats what the guy told me at least). they didnt do the visual or anything.

so the HC is probaly caused by a faulty O2 sensor telling it to run rich, and the CO above idle is probably because the cat got f'ed from the richness. makes sense, although its still just "probably". ill replace the O2 and cat and see what happens.

Im pretty sure the fuel system is fine, the injectors and all were rebuilt less than 15k ago i believe.

thanks a ton, ill see what happens when i get the car back on the ground(swapping in a t5 right now). Oh, and 2.8, if for original equipment my car(89 2.8 auto) didnt have air, it shouldnt matter that i put a t5 in, right?(without putting in an air system).

 

No, the high CO is from a bad O2 making it run rich. The HC is from a combination of High Co and a misfire. Normally, you would only see HC in the 100 to 200 ppm range with jhust a rich condition and bad cat. There is something else going on, but a new cat will probably get you through this once. The problem will have to be fixed eventually though.

If they gave you a print out of the results, the DMV knows how it did, there's no way to get around that.

Technically it does matter that you now have a manual trans, but only people like me would catch that. Only if the guy is really ****. Just keep the emissions label under the hood, and most people will look right over it. I'm cool with a lot of the 3rd gen guys I talk to, but if you're just some schmuck off the street, I fail for stuff like that.

 

ok, i had a misfire type problem back then, but i'm 90% sure ive fixed it now(new maf sensor, cap/rotor and new plug wires, the symptoms went away). ill be sure to keep my emissions label clean and visible then, and im pretty sure i can find a place that just wants to shovel buisiness through as fast as possible. thanks a ton.

 

FYI
As said ya could get bumped for swapping the trannys
YA COULD
HOPE NOT, THO, REALLY HOPE NOT!
AS I could be bumped for doing the swap boogie & not getting a smog "label", too.
I could but haven't so far.
That's why I kept stock appearance, to be the step ahead of anyone suspicious.